I know its really rough but all the feedback helps
thanks!
Many people describe family dinners as dysfunctional but none were as dysfunctional as mine. It was the dinner to celebrate my bat mitzvah and my whole extended family had flown, drove, and even taken the train to be there. I expected to be happy to see them, but instead I was more anxious then overjoyed. This was going to be the first time my whole extended family was going to be together in one place. My parents have very different background, but they are able to make their differences mesh together into a cohesive bond. I hoped the combining of two very different groups of people for my dinner would be as functional as my parent's marriage, but I had strong doubts. My mom grew up in a devoutly religious catholic family living in the heart of Texas. Strong prejudices run deep through my mother's family, stemming from my Great-Grandfathers induction into the Ku Klux Klan. Even though my mother managed to keep an open mind, my Sarah Palin loving republican grandfather, has never been able to overcome his pre conceived stereotypes. When my mother's family arrived, the house was full of chatter and the smell of my dad's family's cooking filled the air. When my mother's family walked into the room, my father's mother smothered them in hugs and lipstick kisses. My Grandfathers distain for my grandmothers loving demeanor was immediately apparent on his face. My kaki-clad grandpa had already decided he did not like my dad's family. As the night continued, it became more and more apparent that the families we not mixing well. After the ceremonial Jewish blessing over the wine and bread, I could tell my mothers family was becoming very self-conscious. This tradition was foreign and unknown to them and they felt detached from my family. However, my mother fixed this immediately, after that we concluded the Jewish blessings she had everyone join hands and asked my grandfather to lead grace. The night continued more smoothly after that, it still had many bumps and awkward moments but by including customs of both my families' cultures, we were able to create a bridge between these two immensely different groups of people. Even though my diverse extended family teaches me so many different lessons I would not be able to obtain without their different backgrounds, My bat mitzvah dinner showed me that although diversity is immensely important, diverse groups of people do not always work well together. This experience spurred me to become the community outreach executive on my schools student council. Now on a daily basis I work on perfecting my ability to help bring together different groups in order to learn from each other.
Diversity delivers many different viewpoint and those viewpoints do not always work well together but my family has taught me how to bridge those differences
